1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting and sorting apparatus which conveys a long continuous photographic negative film after development and cuts the film at every predetermined number of frames so as to form film segments of a length suitable for insertion into a protective sack.
2. Description of Related Art
Commercial photographic developing service is usually conducted by connecting a plurality of long continuous photographic films of customers in series to form a train of long photographic films, and subjecting the film train to a continuous developing process. When the customer has placed an order for simultaneous printing, the negative film after the development is moved to bring the successive frames to a printing position so that the image carried by the negative film is printed on a photographic paper set in the printing position. After the printing, the negative film is inserted into translucent protective sacks for the negative film sheets and is returned to the customer together with the prints. Usually, the continuous long negative film is cut for every predetermined number of frames, e.g., for every 6 frames, into film segments of a predetermined length and such film segments are inserted into independent protective sacks before returned to the customer. An apparatus is commercially available which is capable of automatically conducting cutting of a continuous negative film into segments and insertion of the segments into protective sacks. An example of such an apparatus is a Cutting Inserter MODEL FNC1-3510 produced and sold by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. This apparatus, referred to also as cutter sorter, is composed of a negative film cutter and a negative film inserter which are coupled such that the film segments cut from the continuous film are immediately inserted into the protective sacks.
In operation, once the long continuous negative film is set on the cutting inserter, the film is fed by a feeding means such as rollers and is cut at every predetermined number of frames into segments which are then inserted into protective sacks.
This known cutter sorter, however, suffers from the following problems. If the negative to be returned to the customer has been cut to remove the unnecessary portion which is on the leading side of the first successful exposure frame, the customer may have a suspicion that a successful exposure frame may have existed on the leading side of the first frame on the negative film segments inserted in the protective sacks and returned to the customer. In order to avoid such a suspicion, it is a common practice that all portions of the negative film, including the margin portion on the leading end for allowing extraction from a patron and other white blank portions on the leading side of the first successful exposure frame, is inserted into the protective sacks and returned to the customer.
The length of the film between the leading end and the first effective exposure frame varies depending on the state of loading of the film in the camera. Namely, the frame number 1 of the film may have been exposed during loading of the film so that this frame is made white after development. It is also possible that a first effective shot is obtained on a portion of the film which is on the leading side of the number 1 frame. Thus, the positional relationships between the frame numbers and the protective sacks undesirably vary depending on the position of the initial or first cutting of the film. This undesirably obliges the customer to confirm the numbers of frames on the film segments when placing an order for additional printing.
A problem also is encountered when additional printing is conducted in the developing factory. In the developing factory, an operator checks up the negative film with an order sheet to pick up the frames corresponding to the frame numbers written on the order sheet and prints such frames. The variance of the positional relationships between the frames and the protective sheet may cause the operator to pick up and print wrong frames. In order to avoid such an inconvenience, the operator is required to carefully read the frame numbers shown on the negative film.